“I can’t be a hero because I am a Down’s syndrome.”
Zak
This delightful adventure-on-the-run is a modern spin on classic American fiction like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, notable for starring an actor with Down’s syndrome rather than resorting to caricature. Zack Gottsagen’s performance feels natural, the actor being both self-effacing and determined in his portrayal of a sheltered youth desperate to experience the world for himself. The striking geography of North Carolina’s coastal plain provides a grand backdrop to this journey of self-discovery. Shia LaBeouf is the ideal wilderness companion, rough and yet innately sensitive to the fact that Zak requires freedom from his constrained existence in order to develop and flourish. Sweet without being saccharine, The Peanut Butter Falcon walks the perfect line for a feelgood movie, undermined only by its abrupt ending.
8/10
